The American College of Obstetrician-Gynecologists (ACOG) has refused to debate a pro-life OB/GYN group, arguing that “the role of abortion in our patients’ lives is settled science.”
The bizarre claim came in a dismissive response to an invitation from the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetrician-Gynecologists (AAPLOG) to a debate at Duke University, over whether induced abortion is a good medical practice. According to the Washington Examiner, ACOG CEO Maureen Phips said the group “will not debate abortion as an essential part of reproductive health care.”
AAPLOG President Dr. Christina Francis responded: “Stating that this is settled science ignores the fact that the vast majority of OBGYNs do not perform elective abortion.”
She added: “But it also clearly ignores the vast majority of the medical evidence out there that shows that elective abortions do not improve the health outcomes of our patients, and in many cases, actively worsen the health outcomes. What ACOG is trying to do is make it appear that all OBGYNs feel this way, when that’s very clearly not the case.”
Studies and individual reporting have pointed to ties between abortion and various mental health complications and issues like substance abuse. Scores of anecdotes from “Forbidden Grief,” “They Lied to Us,” the Silent No More campaign, and Live Action’s “Can’t Stay Silent” report testify to this sad reality.
Phipps’ statement reflects growing hostility towards pro-life views and the twisted way pro-abortion forces attempt to excuse the slaughter of innocent, preborn children. The “science” of abortion shows it’s anything but care. Instead, it reveals a barbarity that ends one life and sometimes inflicts deep psychological or physical harm on another.
At fertilization, preborn children have a unique set of DNA that leads to the first steps of development of their brain, spinal cord, and heart all within the first five weeks of gestation. The heart begins to beat just 16-21 days post-fertilization. By 6-7 weeks, doctors may be able to detect that heartbeat while the child’s eyes, ears, arms, and legs grow. Yet and still, ACOG has opposed heartbeat legislation designed to restrict abortions at this point.
The group has also criticized a law restricting abortion at 15 weeks, by which all of a baby’s essential organs have started to grow, a baby’s face is well-formed, genitals appear, and, according to some researchers, they may be able to feel pain. Last year, ACOG similarly attacked the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which effectively allows abortion up till birth when interpreted alongside its companion decision in Doe v. Bolton.
But as pregnancies progress, the evidence of life only becomes disturbingly more obvious. By week 26, the National Library of Medicine says, “[a]ll parts of [a] baby’s eyes are developed” while “footprints and fingerprints are forming.” A baby’s eyelids can open and close by weeks 27 to 30 and their bones are fully developed by weeks 31 to 34.
These facts may be why the organization has attempted to soften language surrounding late-term procedures.
Instead of backing sound science on the abortion pill mifepristone, ACOG put its patients in danger by acting as a driving force for the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) irresponsible decision to deregulate abortion pill access based on woefully incomplete data. The pro-abortion organization also criticized Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision to upend the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which has ended millions of lives.
For the mother, the abortion pill can cause intense pain and bleeding, as well as potentially lead to hospitalization and death. This can be a highly traumatic experience as shown in Abby Johnson’s movie Unplanned.
ACOG has a long history of pro-abortion advocacy and ties to population control, as Live Action News has noted. However, their hostility towards pro-life views seems to have escalated as their side lost key court and legislative battles.
Prior to declining AAPLOG’s invitation, ACOG recently booted the pro-life OB/GYN group from a conference the former has attended for years. It’s unclear why exactly this happened but the move prompted scrutiny from members of Congress.
“The reported decision by ACOG — an organization purporting to represent all obstetrician-gynecologists — to exclude qualified health care professionals of maternal and child care from presenting at an annual conference because of their pro-life positions is hypocritical and outrageous,” reads the letter from multiple House Republicans.
It adds: “ACOG makes no secret of its extreme abortion agenda. Its detailed pro-abortion lobbying instructions to ACOG members, its ‘language guide’ touting euphemisms that hide the realities of abortion, and its stated intent to ‘increase the availability of trained abortion providers’ are just a few examples of its active and deliberate work to promote abortion on demand and spread misinformation about the pro-life movement.”
ACOG’s actions and statements may leave readers with the impression that abortion is a regular and integral part of OB/GYNs’ medical practice. But as Live Action News previously noted, many OB/GYNs don’t even perform abortions:
“You know, they claim to represent 60,000 OB-GYNs, and yet they really don’t represent the vast majority of their membership when it comes to abortion,” Dr. Francis told Pregnancy Help News.
According to a 2019 study published by Obstetrics & Gynecology, less than one in four OB/GYNs committed an abortion in the past year, despite the vast majority encountering patients requesting one. A 2011 study found that only 14% of practicing OB/GYNs commit abortions, and much more recent studies have shown that 85% of OB/GYNs do not commit abortions, and a 2017 Guttmacher Institute release revealed that “[o]nly 7% of U.S. obstetrician-gynecologists who work in private practice settings provided abortions in 2013 or 2014.” Over a third — 35% — refused to even refer patients for abortions.
